Toronto Trivia League

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About the League

In the year 1992, a fine human by the name of Peter Mathieson created Toronto Trivia League (TTL). Peter built and ran it for the next 13 years. In 2005, another fine human by the name Alex McDonald took over and has given his all to the league for the past 12 years. Al retired in 2017, and Toronto Trivia League is becoming more of a community effort, managed by yet another fine human, Phil Rock. TTL is a 12-team, head-to-head, team-against-team, Monday night of fact-filled fun!

TTL is for Trivia Nerds, Jeopardy lovers, and humans of every persuasion – as long as they like to answer questions about everything and... nothing. Our teams’ players consist of a variety of people, who come from all walks of life and who gather for a social evening with “like-minded, like-to-answer” folk. There are three, 11-week sessions per year, followed by a 4- to 6-week break and an end-of-season party in week 12.

TTL is not NTN Buzztime trivia machine play, where individuals use a “playmaker” to answer questions posted on a TV screen. Our six bars each have two teams of five players and a dedicated Quiz Master/Mistress (QM) to run the game every Monday night. All teams have their “home bar,” where they play half of the session’s games. For the rest of the games, each team plays “away” from their home bar, at the other participating bars. All bars are located in the East End and Beaches area of Toronto.

Questions for each round are submitted by any Leaguer, who receives a small stipend for their submission, and rounds range from the musical kind (audio rounds), to travels through world history and geography. Questions test players’ knowledge in science, corner on Canadiana, dazzle with movies and books, and frustrate by things that coulda, shoulda, mighta been the right answer... but are not. Some Leaguers buy themselves a beer, some a pop or tea. For the next two hours, the QM asks 10 rounds of questions and then these are answered accordingly. First to answer is an individual team member (2 points if they get it right all on their own). Next, if the individual can’t answer or answers incorrectly, the individual’s team gets a chance to answer (1 point if the team gets the answer); and then... the moment every team waits for... a chance for the opposing team to “steal” by giving the correct answer in five seconds (1 point for steals, because stealing isn’t wrong when the answer is right!).

For each session, TTL keeps a running tally for every team and each individual player. There are, of course, the nightly team winners with kudos all around. Then, at the end-of-season party, prizes are awarded to the player from each team who scores highest over the 11 weeks. Few players get 10 out of 10 each game, but everyone tries! We end each season with a party at one of our participating bars, which gives us a chance to get to know each other better, make friends, and celebrate.